The Amazing Spider-Man 3

Chapter 21

The next day, I had college classes again, so I left Gwen at home.  Lance made sure to catch me in the hallway before my first class. 

"Hey...I missed you yesterday.  Did you skip?  So you could save people?"  He taunted.

"I don't have classes on Mondays, anymore," I said. 

"Oh...okay.  But you were still 'saving people', am I right?"  He spoke again before I had the chance to answer his question.  "I thought so.  Of course I'm right."  Then he walked away.  I rolled my eyes when he wasn't looking, then continued to my class. 

I enjoyed my first day in Mr. Allen's graphic design class.  He told us about many different projects that we would complete, some simpler than others.  We would be designing websites, creating new tools, and even designing a video game.  This class covered a wide range of things, but they were all great and useful.  I was looking forward to future days in this class.

As I was leaving the classroom after we were dismissed, Mr. Allen stopped me in the doorway.  He wore a friendly smile and his usual pair of glasses.

"Glad to have you, Peter Parker," he said.

"I'm glad to be here.  I'm really looking forward to learning all of this," I said.

"I'm looking forward to teaching it to you.  You know, Peter, I've admired your schoolwork for a good long time now, and I am so honored to finally have you in my class."

"Really?"  I didn't know what to say.  "I'm honored to have you as my instructor."

Mr. Allen gave a chuckle.  "Nonesense.  I'm no one special."

"You are.  You're not like the rest of the instructors...you...um...connect better with your students...and you're friendlier, too," I began to feel awkward, unsure how to tell him things without sounding rude to the other instructors. 

He chuckled again.  "Thank you."  I nodded, giving an awkward smile. 

"You're welcome."

"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Planning on it."

"Wonderful."  He gave me a wink, then turned and walked to his desk.

---

I returned home later, to find Gwen watching television.  She had the news channel on, and there were pictures from our last battle.  They were clearer, and it was officially confirmed that there was a Spider-Woman. 

Who was taking the pictures?  I hadn't had the time to take them myself, so someone else was taking them...but who?

"Hey," I said.  Gwen muted the television, and I sat on the couch beside her.  "How's it going?"

"Alright," she said.  "Lonely, for sure."  She looked at her hands, resting in her lap.

"Hey," I said again, I stroked her cheek with my hand, and she looked back up at me.  "I'm here now.  We'll get this all figured out, I promise."  She nodded.

"I still don't know what to do," she mumbled.  "I want to be Spider-Woman, but my family will never forgive either of us."

"I forgive you," I told her, holding her head in my hands.  She forced a smile, and I lowered my hands.  She slumped down, then unmuted the televison.

The news report was now discussing their latest arrest.  The Sandman was a guy I'd never heard of before, a wanted criminal named Flint Marko.  Apparently he stole a lot of medicine from hospitals and excaped prison.  The reporters didn't know how he suddenly gained odd superpowers, but I did.  Harry had to have used Oscorp's research somehow.